Star Becomes a SuperNova

More under the most beautiful spectacle ever imagined. Auroras phenomenal cosmic rays and curtains would fall from the skies for months to eliminate the ozone layer, the magnetosphere and life on our planet. If the star is located close enough, most fulminados fall in the early moments.

The recent discovery by NASA of the youngest supernova in the galaxy has once again raise concerns in the minds of some. Fortunately, there is no candidate big enough and dying in our environment closest to awaken our fears. Although the prediction is not entirely safe and only applies to the next million years.

For an exploding star is estimated to affect us should be at a distance of between 25 and 100 light years from us and have a size between ten and twenty times larger than the sun. The closest candidate, who has spent years chisporroteando suspiciously, is the distant Betelgeuse, which is 427 light years away.

The possibility of a supernova that affect life on Earth not only exists but has been carefully documented by astronomers. Throughout its history, our planet has suffered radiation from supernovas several who have left their mark on the ozone layer and that could cause some mass extinctions.

Ten million years, for example, the explosion of supernovas became so frequent that it is likely that our ancestors the Australopithecus contemplate every so often as the stars are lit in broad daylight. The radiation then hit some shellfish and marine creatures too sensitive to ultraviolet radiation and respected other forms of life just because supernovas were not close enough.

Thanks to these remarks today we know that the solar system travels within a giant gas bubble formed after those explosions and here we are almost miracle. If our planet had been closer to the center of the galaxy of stars crowded exploiting chain, life certainly would have been much more difficult.